Tuesday 21 September 2010

What Is This "Toronto" You Speak Of?

Hello again my friends!

I arrived, safe and sound, back in Toronto on Saturday afternoon, and since then I've been just settling back into my normal life.  It's been a strange adjustment this time out.  I normally return from vacation and just pick right back up where I left off, but this time I'm feeling a bit disoriented.  I woke up this morning and it took me quite awhile to figure out what day it was and why I'd been so foolish as to set an alarm.  Total confusion.  Oh well, probably just a bit of jet lag, and a whole lot of me missing the West coast.

Fortunately I've got a few more days to get adjusted before I'm heading up to Killarney.  Hopefully I'm back in fighting form for that trip since it, as a canoe/camping trip, will be somewhat physically demanding, and I should probably be awake and alert for that.  The timing is a bit poor on this trip, since I don't even have a full week back at work to catch up before I'll be gone again.  Still, we planned this camping trip in May, and my trip West was just squeezed in where I could fit it, so I'll just have to put up with the inconvenience of work being a bit stressful these next few days.  Believe me, I'm not complaining, I wish all of my problems could fall under the category of my vacations being too close together.

I'd like to segue (gracelessly) into a discussion on cameras (again) if you'll all allow it.  No complaints?  Smashing.

I went fairly wild with the photography this trip, and I received quite a few comments from all of you suggesting that I've produced some quality pictures with my little point-and-shoot.  That inspires me to make an attempt at raising the bar and improving on whatever skill with a camera I may have come by naturally.  I know that my local community college offers a course on the fundamentals of photography which I think could really help.  I believe that any natural talent in probably just a good artistic sense of composition, which is probably why I've got a few compliments on my photos.  However, the fact that I got a few good ones is just down to the fact that I took hundreds of pictures, whether or not the photo actually turns out is still pure chance with me because I don't understand the technical side of photography.

So, in theory, a course on photography could be of immense benefit.  There's still a problem with that concept though.  You don't get in to the world of precise, controlled photography with a point-and-shoot camera.  The course that I was looking at requires each student to bring their own SLR camera.  No auto-focus allowed.  So now I come back to the same circular discussion that I inevitably find myself in.  I want to to take better pictures, but I love the fact that my camera fits in my pocket, and is very nearly impervious to harm.  I'm just not sure I would enjoy lugging around one of these big, fragile SLR cameras.  So I'm constantly torn between better pictures, and portability.  I'm honestly not sure which way I'm leaning at this point.

We had an interesting discussion on this at work yesterday, as it just so happens.  Chris suggested to me that perhaps there's a compromise to be made... well, actually it's not really a compromise at all, he's just saying that I should own two cameras.  His notion was that there are certain trips where you need to be light and mobile and you're only going to be happy with a snappy little point-and-shoot, and so you should have one available.  Then, when you're going on that different sort of vacation where the game plan involves long hikes through scenic terrain you can break out the big guns and carry the SLR, essentially dedicating that particular trip to the fine art of photography.  Like I said, not technically a compromise, but possibly the best solution.

I'll leave you all now to ponder the best approach to camera ownership, as I must make my way to work.  As I mentioned previously my next adventure starts this very Friday, so I'll be back soon.  I'll be in the woods Saturday and not emerging until Monday afternoon, so it'll be all silence for that portion of the trip, but I'll still get the netbook up there so that I can report on the trip during the portions of it that we spend in town.  Until then, have a fantastic week my friends.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Why compromise? What you need to do is get an enormous camera and a slave to carry it around for you.
Seriously though, the reason your camera sucks is because it's old tech. Have you noticed Jay's camera? It's small and beefy.

Jabbles said...

Speaking of my camera I was actually going to offer it to you if you want to borrow it for your trip.
I agree the way to go is two cameras for the reasons you listed.
I actually borrowed a book from your dad on photography, sure it's old so the many chapters on film don't apply, but all the other techniques are still valid.

Aunt J. said...

Check out the local camera stores that sell trade-ins. You might find something at a reasonable price.